


Mass Pike Interchange

by banquos_ghost



Series: Mad About The Boy [3]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Cunnilingus, Drama & Romance, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Game Spoilers, Partner Betrayal, Smut, Swearing, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-01
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-06-05 09:55:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6700258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/banquos_ghost/pseuds/banquos_ghost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Mac leapt at the opportunity to argue - this had been building between them all day. 'Look Nora, why don't you just fuck off back to Sanctuary Hills.  Then you can be rid of my bullshit forever... This is my problem, not yours..'</em>
</p>
<p>Nora thought helping MacCready to take down the Gunners at Mass Pike Interchange would cement their relationship. Instead it gets blown sky high and she's left picking up the pieces.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tactics

**Author's Note:**

> Part 3 -Follows on chronologically from Parts 1 and 2 but (hopefully) should make sense without reading them first..

Nora sat across from MacCready at the large table covered with papers, maps and diagrams.  
'Think, Mac, think, anything you can remember could help. Anything! I need to know everything. Everything! Any little detail however insignificant. Anything that will tip the odds in our favour if even by a few thousandths of a percent.' 

It was a time he had been trying to forget and now she was forcing him to rehash hour after painstaking hour of it. Every minute seemed to bring some new line of enquiry from her about the Gunners at Mass Pike Interchange. She demanded to know every little detail, things which to his mind couldn't have any relevance at all. What did they eat there? How did they pass time? When she'd quizzed him about the toilet arrangements he'd rolled his eyes. Did it really matter where and how the Gunners took a dump? Obviously to her it did. 

At that moment he hated her. For starters, this 'Mac' business... when that had first happened he'd had to accept the nickname with a sweet smile. How could he object? This woman was risking her life for him. Despite that it rankled every time she called him it. It reeked of domesticity and familiarity, it grounded them as a couple. Bound her just that little bit tighter to him and would make it that little bit harder for him to extricate himself. If they ever got out of this alive. MacCready himself was losing enthusiasm for the Mass Pike Interchange job now the cold, hard, brutal impossibility of it was apparent. The endless questioning about his time in the Gunners had made him realise how stupid it was of him to even attempt to attack their stronghold in the first place. 

In the rare reflective moments when he wasn't raging internally about Nora, MacCready could give credit where it was due. Nora hadn't been dicking around back in Goodneighbor when she'd agreed to help him. She had swung into action the next day converting their piles of spoils into cold hard caps, which she had spent on ammo, mines and grenades at Kill or Be Killed. Her flurry of activity had made him think with shame of all those days he'd sat in the Third Rail doing fuck all when _he_ could have been more proactive. Once they were tooled up he'd assumed they would go straight away and get the whole thing over and done with. However, instead of heading straight to Mass Pike Interchange she had insisted that they come back to her base, here, at Sanctuary Hills. She had put aside one room where she stored all her 'evidence', her maps and scribblings, and another room next door to that where she'd amassed a stockpile of supplies that they would take to the Interchange. When she wasn't getting her kicks quizzing him about the Gunners she spent endless hours brewing who-knows-what at the chemistry station. She'd told him she had been making a variety of poisons but he was not sure how _poison_ would help against a Gunner with a huge fucking gun.

Preston Garvey had been delighted to greet Nora when she returned. His smile had frozen on his face when he saw that MacCready was still hanging around. Preston had hoped she'd see the error of her ways and send MacCready back to Goodneighbor. He had also ardently hoped that she'd got over this stupid infatuation with him - it had been obvious to anyone with eyes, no matter how she tried to hide it. Far from getting rid of him, she had now revealed that she was prepared to risk everything for his sake, embarking on a unprovoked attack of a Gunner stronghold. Preston had spoken to Nora in private about her companion and hit a brick wall, she wasn't even trying to hide her affection for him anymore. What was even worse was that the affection was now reciprocated and they were to be found fondling each other and acting like loved up idiots everywhere he had the misfortune to cast his eyes. When Nora had initially told Preston about the plan to rid Mass Pike Interchange of Gunners his mouth had set in firm lines of disapproval. It was one thing defending a settlement but to actively bait the lion in its den? Crazy, crazy, crazy. He reminded Nora about the Quincy Massacre, how brutally effective the Gunners were. He was deeply unhappy about Nora risking her life on behalf of this mouthy opportunistic merc and made it known to her in no uncertain terms. Nora had proven equally obstinate. She had informed Preston coldly that she was going to do it whether he liked it or not. 'Well, I just hope he's worth it,' had been Preston's parting shot as he stormed off.

Nora could appreciate why Preston thought she was crazy. From the information that she'd gleaned questioning MacCready and talking to some provisioners they'd encountered on the way back from Goodneighbor the Gunners at the Interchange were to all intents and purposes untouchable. From their high vantage point up on the old highway they could command control over large swathes of the Commonwealth. They were highly organised, highly armed and only a fool would take them on. It would take a special kind of fool to attempt to take out the two commanding officers whilst armed with little more than rudimentary weapons. Well, cometh the hour cometh the fool. Nora's best hope was that the Gunners were so sure of their position they had become slapdash, leaving some gaping holes in their defence. If there were any such holes, she would find them and exploit them. This was her bread and butter. This was why she had become a lawyer back in the old days. MacCready had unwittingly given her a gift when he'd handed her this challenge. It felt good to be using her brain again, making plans, feeling powerful instead of a slave of fate. Having something to engage all her energy in, something to pit herself against rather than lurching from crisis to crisis had made her feel human again.


	2. Tick-Tock

The little tarpaulin tent that MacCready and Nora had called home for a couple of days had served its purpose. Today was to be the day they would take control of the base camp at Mass Pike Interchange. Nora had a good idea of the layout from her extensive questioning of Mac, but nothing could beat seeing it with her own eyes. Her life had narrowed until the sole focus was just this base camp. She was alert to every nuance. The daily routine. The noise of the lifts up to the flyover, the crackle of the communication radio between the base and the viaduct. She'd estimated there were about fifteen Gunners up on the viaduct. Fifteen! Her and Mac versus fifteen Gunners. Not to mention the Assaultron. The odds were against them and anything they could do to make the playing field slightly less vertiginous was better than nothing. She had watched the supply lines come and go to the base camp. Observed the frequency of deliveries, the banter of the Gunners with the provisioners. The bribes, the putting aside of a bottle of vodka here and the subtle slip of caps into outstretched hands there. 

MacCready had confirmed that the base station was considered a crap posting and the most coveted placing was up on the viaduct. Once those positions were attained they were not relinquished easily, so the guards at the base station tended to stay there for weeks on end, until a Gunner from the top level made a minor misdemeanour and was expelled from paradise down to the base camp. 

Nora had grown to intimately know the two base camp Gunners that she'd been watching. She had watched them making love when they were supposed to be on duty. She had listened in to their conversations, had heard them moaning about being stuck at ground level and their designs on getting back up to the viaduct, and now she had to kill them. This was going to be hard.

It was raining again. Nora shivered as the damp air chilled her through to the bone. She felt a sense of irony. When she had first met MacCready his outfit had reminded her of a WW1 soldier. Now they were experiencing the drudgery of trench warfare first hand. And there was nothing, _nothing_ remotely romantic about it. 

She'd found a forgotten chess board and pieces stuffed in a cubby hole on the outskirts of the base camp and had taught MacCready to play chess. She wasn't a stunningly good player but beat MacCready almost every time. If he concentrated he could beat her easily but he became impatient with the time it took Nora to make her move. He would lose his temper, the board and the pieces would be upturned and rolling around and that would be the end of the chess game. They played cards. They argued. They talked until the conversational well ran dry. Nora was more forthcoming about herself than MacCready. She longed to know more about his background, but he couldn't or wouldn't tell her. His evasiveness was just another annoyance in the long hours of waiting.

They faced hour after hour of pure mind numbing tedium. Hour after hour of drizzle and damp.  
The deck of cards they had been playing with lay dog-eared and discarded. They had long since tired of them. They sat waiting for darkness to fall. The atmosphere between them was deeply oppressive. Even the ticking of MacCready's watch was an annoyance, now she'd noticed it she couldn't un-notice it. Tick-tock, tick-fucking-tock... on and on. Only fading when he moved away to pace up and down and threaten to just go now... go now and storm the place.. get it over with. Again and again. Ad nauseam. She was hypersensitive to everything about him. And how bloody annoying he was.

'Look,' she said patiently though it took all her effort not to reach across and throttle him, 'if you know a better way I'd fucking _love_ to hear it. '

'Let's just go up there and finish this thing now.' MacCready said for the millionth time that day.

'Mac the only reason we've even got this slim chance is because the Gunners got sloppy. If we make the same mistake I promise you we won't last two fucking seconds. Two seconds of boom and guts- our fucking guts- then a long time dead. You might want to go down in a blaze of glory, but me, I'd prefer to be alive to tell the tale and find my son. If that means a few more hours or even _days_ listening to you whine then so be it. Although I must admit the first option is starting to look more attractive the longer I have to tolerate your bullshit.'

MacCready leapt at the opportunity to argue - this had been building between them all day. 'Look Nora, why don't you just fuck off back to Sanctuary Hills. Then you can be rid of my _bullshit_ forever... This is my problem, not yours..'

Nora paused for a few moments before speaking, 'You know I'm not going to do that. However bad it gets, whatever shit goes down. We face it together. This will pass, the coldness, the tiredness, they will pass....'  
She walked over to him, and the way things were between them he couldn't be sure if she was going to kill him or kiss him. 

She stood before him, a slight figure in dirty old leathers. Her face filthy with grime, her hair in wet clumps around her face. Hesitantly she reached out and found his hands with hers.. 'We face it together,' she repeated, looking deep into his blue eyes, before planting the most gentle of soft kisses on his cold nose. 

Silence again. Tick-tock.. tick-tock .. then MacCready leaned into Nora and kissed her softly on the lips. 'Together..' he echoed. At that moment in time he almost, _almost_ , felt something. He shook it away for the annoyance that it was. He was so close now, so close. In a few short days he would be a free man again. Or a dead man...

 

The long waited for darkness had eventually washed over the land, and what had to be done was done. They had assassinated the two unfortunates at the base camp. With businesslike callousness they had stripped the corpses and donned the Gunner uniforms. Now even more wait and tedium began. At least they had proper shelter from the elements now they were in possession of the base station. 

When the supply train had arrived the next morning Nora had flirted with the Gunner provisioners. MacCready had hung back, wearing a bandana for fear of being recognised. Everything had gone smoothly, the Gunners had no reason to suspect a thing - the thought of anyone infiltrating their little set-up never occurred to them. The supplies of fresh food and water from the supply train were doctored with the poisons Nora had crafted back in Sanctuary Hills before being sent up to the Viaduct on the lift.

'That should at least put a few of them out of action,' Nora had said as the lift ascended.

'How long do we need to wait here now?' MacCready asked

'Depends on how long they take to actually eat or drink any of the things we sent up. I'm not sure that the poison we put in would be strong enough to outright kill any of them but let's put it this way, my questions about the toilets weren't just idle curiosity.'

MacCready just grinned and sighed. Nora was a fucking piece of work, and for some reason he felt more warmth for her in that moment than he ever had.


	3. Queen of the Highway

Nora remembered this Interchange before the bombs. She'd been nervous driving on it. Scared of missing her exit and getting lost in the intertwining roadways. Back then her greatest fear had been an irate driver shaking their fist and honking their horn at her. Now she faced death, rape, torture or god knows what if she cocked up. They were outnumbered and outgunned. If they pulled this off it would be a miracle. 

From the radio messages that had been coming down from the viaduct all day it was obvious that the poisons had been effective. The radio had been constantly buzzing all day demanding to know if the medical supplies had arrived yet. There was a urgent need for them up on the viaduct so where the hell were they? Their lookout had seen the supply train hours ago so when were they getting their damned supplies? Mac spoke over the radio with a disguised voice, the lookout must have been mistaken, no supplies had arrived. He winked at Nora who was busy stocking their own kit bags with the stimpaks and other assorted medical supplies. 

The frequency of the radio calls begging for med supplies had soon reached the critical mass needed to action their plans. Nora was to go up to the viaduct from the lift at the base station, concealed in a box that was supposed to contain the meds and supplies the Gunners were so desperately in need of. MacCready was going to sneak into the viaduct using the unguarded northern lift. He would prey on the camp using his sniper skills to bring down as many Gunners as possible without engaging in direct combat until it was absolutely necessary. 

As they parted to begin their separate assignments MacCready and Nora made their goodbyes, Nora kissed MacCready and begged him to keep safe and stay alive. 'Oh I intend to, you too... See you on the other side...' With a cheery wave that was more redolent of a trip to the shops than a life or death crisis he set off to the northern lift. Nora watched him go, a tear in her eye and prayers on her lips. 

Now was the time to prepare herself for her part in the ambush. She radioed up to the viaduct to let the Gunners know the medical supplies were on their way. 'Thank fuck for that,' came the crackling distorted reply from the Gunner on the viaduct, 'it's like a fucking madhouse up here.' She climbed into the supply box and hit the lift activation button hard before allowing the lid to drop shut over her. Well this was it. As she crouched in the dark box she felt the adrenaline pounding through her system. Fear didn't even come close. Fear. Fear like she had never felt before. The sort of fear that turns bowels to water and blocks out all other senses. Her heart beat was a painful pressure in her ears. All the preparation that had gone into this life or death moment. Them or us. She was so frightened it was all she could do not to jump out of the box and run for it. Let MacCready fight his own battles. There wasn't enough time left for the thought to give rise to the deed whatever her inclination. The lift platform creaked as it begun its ascent up to the viaduct. 

Once the lift had got to the top she heard the noise of Gunners rushing to unpack the box. As the light flooding into the box disorientated her momentarily she opened fire on the Gunners clustered round, eagerly awaiting the provisions. She descended on the Gunners like the woes of the world leaving Pandora's box. Chaos and noise, disarray and a flurry of limbs and blood. There was no hope for them, they were annihilated within seconds. Nora had no time to linger over her minor victory, she set to work distributing mines and hurling grenades in the places she'd planned so carefully with MacCready back at Sanctuary Hills. 

The noise, the smells, the yells of the panicking Gunners were disorientating and smoke and dust were rising from the explosions. Nora tried to focus on what she could see in the thick fuggy air, her ears alert for any sign that MacCready was out there in the melee somewhere. As she blundered through the carnage blind instinct took over and her hours of preparation proved invaluable as she was blinded by smoke, and slipping on the blood and remains of dead Gunners, but still firing her rifle and taking out targets more by instinct than conscious thought. Things were starting to calm now, and she could scarce believe it but it appeared that the odds were now heavily in their favour. There didn't seem to be any more Gunner foot soldiers left standing, and her grenades and mines had obliterated the assaultron.

She stood for a few moments, regaining her bearings and listening for any sign of MacCready, and then, joy of joys, she saw him, emerging unharmed from one of the huts. 'That's all of them gone, all of them,' he said, 'I've been checking, Barnes and Winlock won't be bothering me anymore.' MacCready felt like he was in a dream. He'd longed for this moment for so long and now it was here.


	4. Left for Dust

The ringing in Nora's ears continued, although the action had stopped minutes ago. Time seemed to slow. Winlock's lifeless body lay on the ground. A monstrous beached whale in power armour.   
MacCready kicked the body. Hard. He couldn't believe the boogieman was finally vanquished. 

Nora collapsed on an incongruously gaudy beach chair while surveying the scene. Smoke still rose from where the mines had detonated. Blood. So much blood. The blood and body parts were everywhere. Blood and gore clung to Nora's hair and borrowed Gunners uniform. The smell of blood, shit and gunpowder filled her nostrils and confused her senses. The scene was like some unholy abattoir. She leaned over the side of the chair and heaved and heaved until only clear stomach acid stung and burned her already smoke charred throat. It should have been their triumph. They did it. They were both still alive. So why didn't she feel like celebrating? 

MacCready stood on the edge of the viaduct, he was turned away from the carnage and looking out over the Commonwealth. His Gunners uniform made him even more distant and strange to her. Of all the outcome scenarios she'd been through in her head she hadn't prepared herself for this. The feeling of emptiness, of anticlimax. Even though MacCready was only a few feet away she felt utterly alone. Why didn't he come over to her... Hug her... Argue with her.. Do something, anything to acknowledge what they'd been through. 

It was MacCready who eventually broke the silence. He cleared his throat, and seemed anxious. Then he spoke the words he'd been rehearsing in his mind, 'I think I'm going to go now...'. He'd tried to project an air of cool nonchalance and failed miserably.  
He stood looking at her, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. 'Nora, thank you, for everything.... I'll never forget what you've done for me but I think it's for the best if we go our separate ways for now. I want to give you these 100 caps back. Then we're even..' MacCready was rushing to spit out his words of betrayal, tripping on his phrases of cowardice, his final knife twist. Nora didn't reply. Didn't look up. Wouldn't meet his eye. Only the trembling of her body betrayed her.

'Oh c'mon Nora, don't make this any harder than it has to be.... You must have known it would never work. _We_ would never work....'

Nora remained seated and silent as she lifted her head. She stared at MacCready. They locked eyes for what seemed a lifetime but in reality was a few seconds. MacCready broke away from the stare first, with a defiant shoulder shrug. 

When Nora finally spoke, her sore cracked voice little more than a whisper, almost carried away by the stiff breeze. 'I thought I wasn't worthy of you.. What a joke. You can keep the 100 caps. I hope they keep you warm at night.' 

She got up from her chair and walked away. 

MacCready remained standing, looking out over the Commonwealth. Barnes and Winlock were dead. He was free. He wouldn't think about the rest of it. Wouldn't think about Nora. This feeling of shittiness would pass. It would pass and he would be fine. She would be fine. She wouldn't be living in her fool's paradise anymore. MacCready walked over to the lift and stepped onto the platform. He jabbed the button impatiently. Now the deed was done he had to put a distance between himself and Nora, quickly. He didn't want her trying to stop him, it was definitely best done quickly, done clean, with no painful dragging out or emotional scenes. Slowly the platform descended and he arrived back at the base station. He went to the hut where they'd stowed their stuff earlier that day to clean himself up and rid himself of these stinking bloodied rags. Once back in his old duster and cap he felt human again. He buried his hands deep in his pockets and as he did so he felt a familiar object fall into his hand. He pulled out the small wooden soldier toy that Lucy had given him all those years ago. Back when he was happy and life was good. He rolled the toy round in his hands, seeking the bittersweet comfort he always felt when he held it like this. His thoughts turned to Lucy. How disappointed she would be in him if she were here now. She had always seen the best in him, she had been like Nora in that respect. The difference was Nora had seen him at his lowest ebb, and still wanted him. Lucy had died believing he was a good man, a soldier. Not a ruthless gun for hire. If she had seen how he'd acted these last few weeks she would have berated him to hell and back. And he'd have deserved it. He still had Duncan to think of too. His promise to himself to be a better person for Duncan's sake was in tatters. The last few scraps of decency in him called out and compelled him to at least check to make sure that Nora made it back to Sanctuary Hills safely. He decided to conceal himself and when Nora finally came down from the viaduct he would follow her at a distance to make sure she got back to Sanctuary Hills unharmed. He knew she would head back there sooner or later. Where else could she go? 

On the viaduct Nora sat and stared into space. In the battlefield melee she had found MacCready's binoculars and had been looking forward to seeing the smile on his face when she returned them to him. That seemed like several lifetimes ago now. The battered old binoculars so viscerally reminded her of him she was tempted to hurl them over the viaduct and watch them smash on the rocks below . She refrained, she couldn't blame the binoculars for their owner's crimes. The binoculars were old friends and she couldn't bring herself to hurt them when they had been company to her through the many nights of soul searching. She had loved borrowing them from MacCready. His initials were crudely carved on one of the barrels ..R..J..M. She had spent so many hours while on watch tracing those initials with her finger. Just toying with his old binoculars and wondering where he'd been and what he'd seen through them. He had been so cagey about his past life, he never wanted to talk about it. Anything pertaining to the mystery of it had been precious to her. 

She waited an indeterminate amount of time whilst holding the binoculars. She'd make sure that she'd given him enough time to get his stuff and be gone before she made her own way back to Sanctuary Hills. The aptness of the name struck her - 'sanctuary' - that was exactly what she needed at the moment. She'd go back, apologise to Preston and like the good friend he was he'd accept her apologies with no recriminations and give her the space she needed, well, she hoped he would.


	5. Stimpak

MacCready been following Nora since she left the Interchange. As he'd suspected she had headed in the direction of Sanctuary Hills. It was just as well he hadn't needed his binoculars, as they were missing. They must have got lost somewhere up on the viaduct. Well, too bad, he wasn't going to go back and look for them now. Good old Nora, so predictable. Following her had been a cakewalk. She was always soooo slow, sneaking everywhere. He smiled to himself. He wouldn't miss that. He wouldn't miss her warm body beside him at night, her snoring or the way she called his name out when they made love. He wouldn't miss the feeling of her eager mouth on his cock, no, not at all, or the way she would never let anyone ignore him or slight him. He wouldn't miss her lame jokes, her stupid crackpot schemes and the way they made each other laugh until tears ran down both their faces. Nope, he'd be free and easy from now on. Free to be the lonely sad bastard he'd been before he knew her. Ohh shit. He'd fucked it up. Really fucked it up this time... 

He carried on stalking her, and then it happened... the ferals. From out of nowhere, surrounding her. The painful flashbacks to that subway station almost prevented him from reacting in time, but instinct took over and only once the last feral had twitched its last breath could he let the adrenaline and the emotion flood over him.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nora had been lost in a dream for some time. Too busy mulling over MacCready's betrayal and the aftershock from the attack they'd carried out on the Interchange. She'd stumbled into the pack of feral ghouls without even realising it. Within seconds she was surrounded and things looked bad for her. Very bad. She fought like a wild animal, she was cornered, she was surrounded. No way was she going down without a fight, no way. She didn't come all this way and put up with all this shit since she left the vault just to suffer an ignoble end at the hands of a pack of feral ghouls.  
She fought on in blind rage, Geiger counter on her PipBoy clicking furiously, rifle butt slick with blood as she smashed skulls indiscriminately. As suddenly as the ghouls had attacked the tide turned, they were falling, falling all around her even though she's not even touched them, like an implausible scene from an action movie. She heard gunshots coming from somewhere, it was all too quick. Too hazy. She was alive though. Alive. For now. The last feral was despatched, and peace was restored. MacCready appeared, stepping from the shadows. Was she hallucinating now? Apparently not, she blinked several times and several times more to make sure and he was still there. Where the hell had he popped up from? What was he doing here? Apart from saving her arse...

'I suppose I should thank you. So thank you. You can fuck off now. Goodbye,' Nora was still quaking inside but she wouldn't give MacCready the opportunity to leave her high and dry for the second time that day. MacCready remained rooted to the spot. 'I said FUCK OFF...' Nora was screaming at MacCready now. All her bottled up frustration and rage at him spat out in the words she was shouting at him. 'FUCK OFF...just fuck off..I don't need you, I don't want your help. I managed without you before and I'll manage just fine without you now.'

MacCready didn't even respond. Didn't flinch when she was up shouting right into his face. Nora stared at him. What new trickery was this? She was expecting him to make his usual wisecrack remark about saving her arse or some such nonsense. Hadn't he messed with her head enough already? The rage that had been building in her all day had now reached boiling point. She beat her fists on his unresponsive chest, even his anger and retaliation would be better than this resigned acceptance. 

MacCready stumbled backwards and crumpled down to a seating position on the hard stone floor. He was like a broken man. His head was sunk down and hidden under the peak of his cap and his shoulders shook. Nora looked at his defeated figure. _Was he crying?_ She took a step back. She didn't know how to react to this. 

She pointed the tip of her toe and gently prodded at his thigh with it. It was as close as she wanted to get to him. 'Mac...?'

'Go, you'll be back in Sanctuary by dark if you go now..' he mumbled from under his cap.

She crouched down on the floor next to him, she couldn't just leave him sitting here like this, could she? 'I've got your binoculars..' what a lame thing to say, she thought, but it was the best she could muster. She thrust them at him with an outstretched arm.

He took them and placed them into the holster on his belt. 'Thanks'

'I'll be going then...' Nora turned on her heel and picked her way through the dead feral ghouls. She made it as far as the roadway before looking back. MacCready was still sat there, slumped. She couldn't just leave him there, could she? Oh fucking hell, here we go again.. she stepped back over to MacCready and sat down beside him.

'Just go..' he said

'Don't worry, I'm going...I just wanted to know why you're sat there crying like a godamn baby over a few feral ghouls.. If you need a stimpak I suppose I can sell you one...' Her attempt at being badass was somewhat laboured to say the least.

'Not that it's any of your business, but as I know you sooo well now and the fact is you won't fuck off until I _do_ tell you.. If you must know seeing you getting surrounded by those ferals reminded me of something. Something bad. But don't worry I'm fine now, so you just toddle off back to your little friends at Sanctuary Hills.' MacCready was recovering, as evidenced by the return of his caustic tongue.

 _Her little friends...?_ The man was insufferable. He'd exploited her mercilessly, he'd left her high and dry and then he had the temerity to speak to her like that. _Ahh, there it was, she felt it now, that nourishing flow of anger that would help sustain her through this._ She'd almost felt sorry for him for a moment there. He was obviously badly shaken by the ghouls, and he _had_ saved her. A man with such a magnificent propensity to shoot himself in the foot had no business working as a mercenary. She laughed involuntarily at her own lame joke. Oh fuck, she was going mad, laughing at her own thoughts and all the while MacCready just sat there.  
The most ridiculous thing of all though? In spite of everything that had happened today she still had feelings for him. Still felt her heart lurch as she looked at him sat there. Oh, for fuck's sake.. 

Nora started to walk away, and was startled when she heard Mac's voice calling after her 'Ok, I'll give you 20 caps. Final and only offer.'

She turned back to face him, perplexed. His face was looking at her a tentative half smile on it. He spoke again, 'Twenty caps... For that stimpak you kindly offered to _sell_ to me?' He was still smiling.

'What the hell are you on about? I thought you didn't need it?'

'Well I got to thinking it might be able to fix more than broken bones... Ohh come on Nora don't make me say it...' His cheeks were pink now.

'Say it? Say what?' She was really struggling to understand, what was he going on about? Still, why not humour him? It's not like she was in a rush to get back and be the object of pity at Sanctuary Hills. 

She fished a stimpak out of her bag and walked towards him proffering it gingerly. 'There you go- one stimpak -what's wrong anyway? What do you mean fix more than broken bones?'

MacCready cringed, well it looked like he'd have to say it, 'Come closer,' he whispered, 'I'm not sure I can say this out loud...'

Oh hell's bells- what was up with him? Humouring him as she would a small child she crouched down and placed her ear close to his mouth to facilitate a whisper.

'I was hoping... Hoping it would fix a broken heart...' God what a cheesy line. MacCready couldn't believe he'd said it. His cheeks blushed an even more furious shade of pink.

Nora didn't think she'd end up laughing on this crazy day, but here she was sitting surrounded by dead ferals, MacCready at her side and she is howling with laughter. It's all so completely ridiculous: The feral attack, the dead gunners, his betrayal and now this? And through it all, through the whole stupid mess her body is betraying her. Her heart is pounding at his proximity the same way it always had from the first moment she met him. Simultaneously her head is urging her to deliver a swift, hard kick to his balls and run back to Sanctuary and not look back. Sorry head, ain't going to happen, the body just refuses to do it. Not when its so easy to just stay here, and look into his blue eyes again. Not when it feels so good to fall into his arms and surrender to his kisses.


	6. Red Rocket

MacCready pulled Nora close to him. He had a second chance and he wasn't going to blow it this time. He rose to his feet and took her by the hand. There was no way on earth he was going to carry on kissing her amongst all these dead ferals. It was more than just slightly off-putting, and he wanted to put a distance between the dead ferals before he could do what he really wanted to do. Which was what exactly? Were they back on? God knows but he can't talk to her here. 

Pulling each other by the hand they blundered along the road until they reached the Red Rocket. It was a decent enough place to tarry awhile- Nora had bunked down there a couple of times before she'd settled in Sanctuary. MacCready suggested they make camp there for the night. 

'Shouldn't we get back to Sanctuary?' She asked him. 

'What and have Garvey listening to you screaming my name later?' MacCready turned and grinned at her. 

God he was a cocky, presuming pain in the arse. And he was here, and he wanted her. And she loved him, god help her, she loved him so much it hurt. She needed him so badly it was akin to physical pain. She grabbed him by his lapels and propelled him roughly into Red Rocket. 

'Woah...easy tiger...' MacCready was taken aback by the sheer physical force she was using to steer him into the garage.

She pushed him against the service counter, roughly removing his duster and setting his cap aside. Her hands crept up his back and worked their way along his shoulders and under the fabric of his t-shirt. Pulling him close she lost herself in a frenzy of kissing him, her already sore lips and mouth screaming in protest but the pain mixed in with the huge wave of emotion she was riding on. He responded with equal enthusiasm and his hands fumbled with her clothes whilst his lips still engaged in the kiss. More clothes were removed and in the awkwardness precipitated by the mundanities of fastener undoing and shoe removal their kiss broke.

The change in pace caused Nora to pause, and look at MacCready again. His clothes at half mast and barely covering his modesty. She wasn't expecting it when she felt an engulfing feeling of tenderness as well as lust towards this... idiot.. standing opposite her. She remembered how weak and vulnerable he had been when he was crying after the feral attack. Maybe he wasn't a completely unfeeling jerk after all. 'You know after the way you've treated me I should send you packing..'

'You're not going to though.... Are you?' MacCready was starting to feel a bit less sure of his position. 

She leant forward and planted a soft kiss on his lips. 'That give you enough of a clue?'

MacCready reached out and wrapped his arms around Nora, and started to kiss her tenderly, feeling strangely nervous and apprehensive. He shut his eyes and inhaled the aroma of her hair, it was still filthy and smelt of gunpowder and the aftermath of the carnage on the Interchange. Instead of repulsing him the smell provoked a heart stopping recognition and feeling of tenderness. She'd been through all that for him. It had been a long,long time since anyone had done something for him without wanting twice as much back in return. He swept her hair up from around her neck and traced the line of her throat down to her shoulders with soft kisses. The soft mewing noises she made as she relaxed in his arms filled him with passion and awe. He removed the last of her garments and stroked and explored her bruised and battered body. She sighed softly and made weak noises of protest as he briefly left her to retrieve a sleeping bag from his kit. He laid out his sleeping bag on the shabby old mattress on the floor, trying to make it as comfortable for her as he could. She lay down and stretched out on the makeshift bed, beckoning for him to join her, though it was barely big enough for her. He lay down next to her, despite half his body overhanging and chafing on the rough concrete floor he felt no pain. She pulled him closer to her, trying to make him more comfortable. 

Nora luxuriated in the feel of Mac's naked body lying next to her, his skin pressing against her aching, fatigued limbs. A delicious feeling of warmth filled her as she wrapped her leg over his hip, pulling him still closer to her. She wrapped her fingers in his hair and kissed him deeply, her tongue seeking his out and her hips grinding into his. She gave a little growl that vibrated through his mouth as she felt his erect cock poking the soft flesh of her inner thigh. He grunted in response and his hands started to knead and massage her soft yielding breasts. He broke away from their kiss to seek out her nipples with his mouth. He gently nipped at first one pert engorged nipple then the other one while his hands started moving down her hips and stomach. She gasped and started to involuntarily buck and rear her hips. He continued his odyssey downwards, seeking out all her sensitive bruised skin with his tongue - bruised from helping him. His hands moved under her, clenching around her butt cheeks while she continued to buck and rear against his restraining hands. Slowly and teasingly his mouth continued its slow journey downwards. He moved his hands and gently separated her legs, fingers dancing over the sensitive skin of her inner thighs before tantalisingly stimulating around her pussy whilst avoiding the most sensitive areas that he can tell she desperately wants him touch by the little noises of frustration bubbling in her throat. He continued teasing her in this fashion until her noises had evolved to unashamed begging. With the gentlest of motions he parts her pussy lips and so gently laps at her sensitive nub with an insistent tongue.  
'Oh god, oh Mac' She is screaming his name into the night now. Just as he predicted earlier he thinks smugly.... He continues licking and stimulating her clit as he inserts two fingers into her and thrusts them just enough to tip her over the edge, screaming his name into the Commonwealth night. And he was running away from this? He must have needed his head read. 

Nora is recovering from her climax, panting, exhausted and spent but she wants him inside her. She needs to be as close to him as it's possible to be. Needs to feel his heat, feel his cum spurt into her, needs to feel his desire for her reflecting hers for him. She longs to watch his face as he climaxes, his unguarded, unaware face. She pushes him onto his back on the mattress and straddles him, lowering herself onto his cock with slow deliberation, relishing the feeling of control as she allows him to fill her to his hilt. She places both hands over his chest and leans over him, the better to see his face as she rides his cock. Mac closes his eyes against the sheer intensity of her gaze and gives into the feelings as she takes control and rides him with ruthless intent to tear his climax from him. Not that he's wanting to resist. He is able to relax and give into the pleasure in a way he never has before with her. He is so close now he reaches out and grasps her hips firmly, guiding her and trying to force the pace, bucking his hips greedily under her. He hears her grunts of exertion as she rides him as fast as she can, working the muscles of her pussy around him. A few more thrusts and he is spilling his hot cum into her and he knows she'll be watching his face in triumph like she always does only this time he couldn't give a damn. He wouldn't want it any other way..

**Author's Note:**

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> 
> Thanks for reading. Any comments / feedback gratefully received.


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